An ape that lived 21 million years ago was used to a habitat that was both grassy and wooded.
Corbin Rainbolt
Contrary to the idea that apes evolved their upright posture to reach for fruit in the forest canopy, the earliest known ape with this stature, Morotopithecus, lived in more open grassy environments.
Natural records suggest a cooling trend was underway thousands of years ago.
DeAgostini/Getty Images
Evidence in Earth’s natural archives, from tree rings to seafloor sediments, points to one trend. Some climate models suggest another.
Deep ‘blue holes,’ like this one off Belize, can collect evidence of hurricanes.
The TerraMar Project
A look back at hurricane history suggests we may be significantly underestimating future risks.
The epic fantasy series has been turned into a tv show on Amazon.
JAN THIJS/AMAZON STUDIOS
We modelled the climate of the far future planet Earth in which the fantasy series is set.
The near future may be similar to the mid-Pliocene warm period a few million years ago.
Daniel Eskridge / shutterstock
What climate changes in the distant past can tell us about the near future.
vchal / shutterstock
Scientists have uncovered evidence of a global paleopocalyspe.
Jakub Czajkowski / shutterstock
We found evidence of irreversible ecological breakdown millions of years ago – this time round, we should heed the warning signs.
Ice core analysis can help us better understand historical ‘black swan’ events like pandemics and droughts.
The Washington Post via Getty Images
Ice cores can preserve evidence of ‘black swan’ events like pandemics and droughts, but the glaciers from which they are collected are disappearing.
Tanya Bill / Shutterstock
Scientists have reconstructed the monsoon over 145m years – and found it predates the Himalayas.
Droplets rising from the Champagne vent on the ocean floor in the Mariana Islands. Fluids venting from the site contain dissolved carbon dioxide.
NOAA Ocean Explorer
Thousands of years ago, carbon gases trapped on the seafloor escaped, causing drastic warming that helped end the last ice age. A scientist says climate change could cause this process to repeat.
A modern mouse lemur Microcebus sits upon the cranium of an extinct Megaladapis lemur.
Dao Van Hoang www.daovanhoang.com
A series of new studies sheds light on the population crash and extinction of the giant birds, lemurs and more that roamed the island until around A.D. 700-1000.
Only you can prevent hothouse earths.
Flickr
What can we expect from our future climate after looking at the ‘Hothouse Earths’ of the past?
Natali Snailcat / shutterstock
This sudden, 150,000-year long temperature spike has many parallels with modern climate change.
Neo Studio / shutterstock
The sun is more powerful today than when we last had similar levels of carbon in the atmosphere.
Michael Rosskothen / shutterstock
David Attenborough’s latest BBC documentary indulges wishful thinking over evidence.
stockmdm / shutterstock
Closing the passage between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans strengthened the gulf stream and helped kick off ice ages.
Jay Matternes / Smithsonian Museum
As carbon dioxide emissions continue to increase, scientists are looking to the past.
Modern Africa…or prehistoric Britain?
anson chu
But it’s been millions of years since carbon in the atmosphere last warmed the planet to this extent.
Welcome to your summer holidays, 750m years ago.
Eli Duke
More evidence that planet Earth has gone through various frozen phases.
Conquer Chile? But we don’t have the carbon budget.
Fundación de Santiago (1888) by Pedro Lira
When the Spanish conquered South America in the 16th century they took over the Incas’ mines and soon began to pump clouds of lead dust over the Andes. The silver the conquistadors sent back home made…